Hawley grills Biden admin on migrant surge, whether DHS plans to give phones to illegal immigrants

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri grilled the Biden administration on the expected migrant surge this spring and whether or not the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) is planning to provide free cellphones to unlawful immigrants.

Hawley probed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas within the Wednesday letter, pointing to stories that the division is pulling Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical doctors to deal with sick unlawful immigrants on the border and should present migrants with free telephones.

“The Biden administration has introduced that it intends to rescind its Title 42 order, which is able to solely exacerbate the disaster on the southern border,” Hawley wrote. “On the identical time, new stories and leaked paperwork counsel that the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) plans to divert assets from our veterans in order that it may present free providers to unlawful immigrants.”

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“These stories demand solutions,” Hawley added within the letter first obtained by Fox Information Digital.

The senator wrote that U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) “reported over two million encounters with aliens illegally crossing the southern border” in 2021, which Hawley says is “the very best quantity ever recorded,” and identified some apprehended unlawful migrants “have been recognized as beforehand deported MS-13 gang members.”

Hawley additionally pointed to his Democratic colleagues Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who objected to President Biden shifting to finish Title 42.

Title 42 is an government order that turned away unlawful immigrants carrying infectious ailments attempting to enter the nation. Biden introduced he was ending the coverage final week.

Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks throughout a information convention in Washington on Sept. 9, 2021.
(AP Photograph/Jose Luis Magana)

“I’m notably alarmed at new stories suggesting that DHS plans to divert medical doctors from the Division of Veterans Affairs to supply free medical assets to these crossing our border illegally,” Hawley wrote.

“Within the phrases of 1 CBP official, ‘We’re going to take medical providers away from individuals that actually deserve that. Who went to fight… to provide free medical consideration to unlawful migrants,’” he continued.

“There are additionally stories that DHS plans to supply migrants with free telephones,” Hawley continued. “As well as, a leaked memorandum titled ‘DHS Southwest Border Mass Irregular Contingency Plan’ particulars your plan to maximise the power of unlawful immigrants to use for reduction.”

The Missouri Republican demanded that Mayorkas reply his 10 questions, saying the current stories “deserve solutions instantly.”

In his questions, Hawley asks Mayorkas if DHS is planning on diverting VA medical doctors to provide therapy to unlawful immigrants on the border and if the division plans to provide unlawful immigrants free telephones, in addition to how DHS is “partnering with state and native officers to deal with the disaster on the southern border.”

DHS didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.